A Sudden Change
by sheneya
Summary: A series of oneshots regarding Barry's Adoption or lack thereof by people other than Joe. A sudden change forces Joe to give up on adopting Barry, he vows to keep a protective eye on the boy, whether he's adopted or not. NOTES: I'm using TV reality for adoptions. These Oneshots are adoptable should a fellow author wish to expand on them, just let me know first.
1. A Sudden Change

Joe West groaned as he felt his side being prodded by a familiar finger. It took a few shifts of his body and the sharp sound of his back suddenly clicking back into position that he remembered where he was, sitting next the hospital bed his daughter was in after a rather silly attempt to show off on her part had earned her an arm with three broken bones and a dislocated shoulder, a fractured leg and a hairline crack on her spine . Sitting up quickly, his first moved to check Iris over, even as he registered her earnest attempts to engage the silent young boy in the bed opposite hers. It was then he realized that at some point during his panic to get her to the hospital, he had unconsciously reacted to the one request she'd made between screams of pain, to put her in the same room Barry Allen was currently being treated for trauma and shock in after having witnessed the horrible attack on his mother, well, not in so many words, but he got the idea.

It surprised him how attached Iris had grown to Barry, and he'd even been looking at putting in the paperwork to apply for a chance to adopt the terrorized child, even though he still had worries about some things. Rubbing his hands over his eyes, Joe was struck by one of the major reasons he'd been doubting his ability to properly look after Barry. He'd run the calculations through his head hundreds of times, but no matter how he sliced it, a Cops salary was not extravagant. Barry was a good, sweet kid, and he deserved the best help he could get after what he'd been through, but therapy wasn't cheap, and now, with Iris's injuries, neither were hospital bills.

Sadly, he looked at the yet to be filled adoption request, He didn't doubt that given time, he could learn to love Barry like a son, he was close enough already, but right now, Iris's injuries were more important, and even if the boy didn't find a home right away, the state place he would go to had enough funding to provide a certain amount of therapy.

Barry looked up as Uncle Joe sat down next to him. he hadn't been able to read the piece of paper the man had been holding, but it didn't seem to matter as he'd scrunched it up to be thrown away anyway.

"Listen Barry, the social worker will be around to pick you up in a few hours." He watched as Joe reached inside his front pocket to pull out a card, on the front was the Central City Police Departments stamp, along with a number to reach Joe's Desk directly, turning it over, Joe began scribbling another number on the back of it. "I want you to know that I will be looking out for you as best I can, you know what the number on the front is... on the back are my personal contact details, mobile and home phones, you can call and talk to me or Iris whenever you feel like it." For a few seconds the older man paused. " As long as it's not too far past Iris's bedtime, then you'll just be talking to me. I don't doubt Iris will be wanting to set up visits as well, so we'll see how we go..OK."

Barry stared at the card Joe was holding out to him for a moment, before hesitantly reaching out to take it. Joe noticed that the boys shoulders seemed to relax when he realized the other man wasn't going to pull it away from him.

However he still felt the slight heaviness of regret that he wasn't able to do better by the small boy, but he knew it was better this way, there was no way he'd be able to give him the care and attention he needed in the long run.


	2. The First Adoption

Barry paused to look up from the book he'd been reading when the familiar sounds of children being gathered around for a new potential adoption reached his ears. In the couple of months he'd been in the home, he'd learned to identify what the sounds during the gathering of the children meant. The flutter of giggles amongst some members of the staff meant that the potential adopter was single, relatively well known and respected in the community and male, the stern chatter from other members of the workers told him that, in this case, single might not mean available, so the potential adopter was possibly not interested in starting a relationship just yet, though Barry wasn't yet observant enough to figure out why.

Still thinking of other things he might be able to add to his list for the new man coming to adopt a child, he jumped as one of the staff he hadn't noticed coming to get him suddenly tapped his shoulder. He recognized her as Sally. She, like most of the staff, was nice to the children under her care, though, when it came down to it,Sally and a few others were a little closer to him than other workers, mainly due to the fact that she'd been one of the first to pick up the phone and bring it to Barry when an overexcited Iris had first been given the news that she was allowed to call him at the home.

Following her to the main room, he listened to the snippets of gossip amongst the staff and the children, and added a few more points to his growing list about the potential adopter, the person was recognizably smart, and a few more comments seemed to point to the man being into the sciences. Listening further, he noted that the person was probably in his late thirties or early to mid-forties, but he was still considered handsome by some of the younger staff members.

Suddenly he paused as the latest snippet reached his ears. The potential adopter had suffered a severe personal tragedy. For a few seconds, he stood still as memories of his parents crowded into his mind. Sally let it go for a few moments, but eventually she gently nudged his shoulder.

"Come on then." She said gently. "It's nearly time."

Letting her pull him back towards the main room, he found himself just managing to get in his seat before the boss brought the new adopter out to look at them.

Everyone in the room eyed the man as he walked along the line of children sitting in front of him, every now and then, he seemed to enquire about a particular child. However, Barry was still surprised when the man seemed to stare at him for a few seconds before turning back to the boss. Nodding his head a few times, the man turned back to look at Barry for a little longer before exchanging a few more sentences with the boss, he'd learned to tune it out when they talked about his fathers' so called involvement with his mothers' death and walking her back to the office to fill out paperwork.

There was a small fuss as the children happily split into their prefered groups, the few other children Barry was willing to hang out with aside from Iris quickly gathered around him along with Sally, and a cacophony of voices rose up.

"Did you see that Barry, he was definitely interested in adopting you."

"Oh, He is such a cool nerd, not that being a nerd is bad anyway."

Their was a pause as Sally's voice of reason broke through the conversation for a little while.

"We will have to wait for the background check to be completed."

Before the other voices once again rose to fill the gap.

"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it'll come back good, a lot of people are interested in him, so I doubt he could hide much to begin with."

"True, he was even honest about the tragic loss of his wife when he was asked."

The conversations regarding the potential adopter lasted until bedtime. Feeling tired, Barry decided not to think about it too hard, the fact was, they would only really know what was going to happen when it happened. So it was easier to push it out of their minds until then.

Following this belief faithfully, Barry found himself being surprised when he was called into the office for a one on one supervised meeting with the man. Knocking on the door, he waited until he was told he could come in before opening it and finding a place to sit.

The man and the main caretaker talked for a bit longer, before the man turned to Barry.

"Hello Mister Allen."

Barry thought for a bit, before deciding to return the greeting.

"Hello Sir."

The man smiled at him, and although he was sure he was just imagining things, Barry felt that the smile took a little too long to reach his eyes.

"Mister Allen.. Barry, my name is Harrison Wells, I heard about what happened to your mother... I lost someone important to me as well... I think we may just be able to help each other heal."

Barry searched the other mans' face and found what he thought was a genuine amount of sorrow and regret in his eyes.

"OK Mister Wells, but I can't lose touch with Uncle Joe and Iris."

Once again, Barry thought he'd seen Mister Wells's face freeze, but he put it down to his imagination again as a smile moved across it once more.

"Of course Barry, we wouldn't want you to lose contact with your friends... besides, they'd probably tear this town apart looking for you if you suddenly dropped off the radar."

"Probably Sir."

"And, even though I hope we'll both be able to at least use each others' given names after a while, I'm usually referred to as Doctor Wells by most people, so you may use that if you'd prefer not to address me on such a comfortable level just yet."

Barry, responded with a quiet. "Yes Doctor Wells." as the man turned back towards the desk that held the paperwork needing to be filled out to finalize the adoption.

There was a few minutes of signing and shuffling before Doctor Wells turned back to face Barry.

"Don't worry Barry, I think you and I will get on very well once we get used to each other. After all, I'm always right about these things."


	3. The Physics of Family

Barry looked up as the familiar shadow of the older woman who'd sometimes come to watch the children crossed over him. She always seemed kind, but he found that he could detect a small amount of sorrow or regret in her eyes as she smiled and waved at both him and the other children in the home before continuing on her way. At first, Barry thought that Joe might be able to tell him why she was a little sad all the time, but, in the end, Joe had just told him that. "People can regret many different things, not all of them are to be understood by the people around them." And Barry decided to leave it at that.

This time, however, she wasn't just looking at them. Barry watched as she made her way through the garden for the first time and rang the doorbell. Suddenly, the sound of a familiar car pulling up made him turn to face the road again. Bridget was one of the social workers that regularly brought potential adopters to the home he currently living in, she was solid and friendly, but she had learned how to keep herself distant from the children she worked with. As he craned his neck to see who the other passenger in her car might be, the sound of the driver-side door opening had him looking back at where Bridget was getting out. Looking up she brightly waved at the woman who had just rung the doorbell, before crouching down to look through her window at her passenger.

Barry couldn't make out exactly what she was saying, but it seemed like a politely worded version of. "We're here, stop reading and get your butt out of the car."

The man that stepped out, seemed to be both distinguished and intelligent yet slightly vague at the same time. Barry supposed that was in part due to the fact that he had been rather abruptly pulled from the book he was reading. Brushing himself down, the man walked up the path, it was obvious from the looks they were exchanging that he and the woman were married and in love, but something about it seemed rocky. However, the fact that Bridget had brought them into the home, meant that both their background checks had been completed and came up clean, even if they were having a few problems.

As Barry watched them waiting for the house staff to open the door, the woman and the man began talking, as the chatted, the woman pointed out some of the other children playing in the yard, the man nodded disinterestedly until she pointed out Barry, for a few seconds, it seemed as though his eyes would pass over the young boy as it had his fellow foster children, but they suddenly alighted on the book Barry had been reading. It was a scientific textbook that Barry had found amongst a pile of random books at a garage sale during an outing with Joe and Iris, apparently their son had been moving out of town and they were selling his old college things, Joe being a police officer had meant that he was given a bit of leeway by the workers at the home. Most of the other children considered it boring and hard to read, so aside from a few attempts from a bully at school, Barry, who found it fascinating, had been left to read it in peace.

The odd little moment was interrupted as the loud squeak of the front door opening heralded the arrival of the house representative. There was a few muffled exchanges as the representative said her apologies for taking a while to answer the door before ushering them all inside.

Barry watched the door for a few more seconds, before shrugging and turning back to his book, it was far more interesting than sitting down and waiting for whatever news would come.

He had finished the chapter he'd been reading, moved so he was under sunlight again, and was about half-way through the next chapter when a sudden shadow blocked out his light. Looking up, he noticed the woman and her husband standing next to him, tilting his body to the side so he could look over at the house, he was reassured by the wave of confirmation given to him by Bridget. Not wanting to be rude, he put the bookmark from his pocket between the pages and focused his attention on the people in front of him.

"Yes Sir... Ma'am?"

Whatever the woman had been about to say was interrupted by the man, who seemed almost surprised as he asked. "Are you actually reading that book kid?"

Barry thought he should feel affronted for a few seconds, but after that gut reaction, it was easy to tell the man was in fact genuinely interested, rather than being condescending.

Happily, and before he fully realized it, Barry began rattling of all the things he found interesting about the book, as he paused for breath, the man interjected that one of the theories Barry was talking had about recently been proven possible, suddenly they where chatting back and forth, Barry found it enjoyable, but after a while, the man began talking about ideas that he was having trouble understanding. At this point, the gentle movement of the mans wife jabbing her elbow into her husbands' side, woke Barry to the fact that they'd spent nearly twenty minutes practically ignoring her, which made him feel bad.

"Sorry Ma'am, I got kind of overexcited."

The woman smiled at his sheepish look.

"That's alright Mister Allen, Believe it or not, this dear man has gotten me quite used to waiting for the excitement of learning new knowledge to calm down."

At that sentence, The man looked away a little sheepishly himself.

"Sorry, Clarissa."

She just patted his arm.

"That's ok dear."

However, even though she seemed perfectly happy about it, Barry could see a small amount of reluctant disappointment in her eyes. Wanting to alleviate it a bit, he turned his attention to her.

"What kind of things do you like Ma'am?"

After a few minutes, they found themselves animatedly discussing their favourite true crime stories, which eventually lead to Barry talking a little about his mother. To his surprise, Clarissa's reaction, while empathetic, wasn't overly pitying. He still wasn't quite willing to mention seeing the man in yellow though, as much as he found himself liking these two people, he'd been told he was imagining things for so long, he didn't feel like hearing it again.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, before his face turned red and slightly sheepish as he looked towards where her husband had been standing, ignored for almost half an hour.

"Sorry Sir."

However, instead of looking upset, the man seemed oddly thoughtful as he looked at his wife, before opening his mouth to talk to Barry.

"My wife and I never planned on having any children Barry, so I was surprised when she mentioned how often she'd been checking out this place. Recently, when I haven't been too involved in my work, we've ended up discussing what it may have been like if we'd decided to have children, and whether or not we had been missing out by not having them."

Barry looked at him quizzically, but he thought he understood where the man was coming from.

"Barry, my name is Doctor Martin Stein, and my wife and I where wondering of you'd like to be adopted by us... I can't promise we'll be perfect, but we will both try very hard to do our best."

Barry was silent as he considered what Doctor Stein was saying, before he finally gave his answer.

"I'd like that Doctor Stein."


	4. Cold Affection

The first thing Barry heard about the new group home he was being moved to, was that it had recently received an influx of brand new staff members. Apparently the previous staff had been far too uninvolved in the care and protection of the children at the home, something which had only been brought to light in recent months, even though there had been rumours of children being seriously injured, and even an incident involving a young man being trapped in a large walk in freezer for a dangerously long time a number of years ago.

It became apparent to Barry that potential adopters that came to figure out which child they wished to take home with them, usually passed him over as soon as they heard that he still believed his father was innocent. Barry wasn't sure what the exact reason for this was, perhaps they thought he'd go rogue in an attempt to free his father, or perhaps it was as Henry said, his name, the Allen name was tainted by the events of that night. Even with Joe and Iris's support, he regularly found himself being ignored for the more adoption friendly children.

It was also apparent that some of the children that had been mistreated there in previous years, where, for some strange reason, keeping an eye on the place. although he couldn't really understand why.

It was while he was sitting in one of his more quiet spots to read, that he saw the first person. He would be lying if he said he'd never seen him before, but it wasn't in person, he'd accidentally seen his younger picture in one of Joe's' old case files, and it was clear he was probably about 25 years old now, however aside from his obvious fascination with the lighter he was holding, Mick Rory didn't have the scary feel of someone who kidnapped children and did horrible things to them, and Barry had learnt early on in life to trust his instincts. He didn't doubt the other man was probably a little crazy, but he was just not scary enough to stop the younger boy from casually sitting near his spot and chatting to him as if nothing was wrong. After nearly a year of trying to keep Barry separate from the fire happy man, Joe had eventually figured out Barry wasn't someone who listened to adult advice, probably due to them not listening to him about his father's innocence, so he just made sure Barry was willing to contact him should Rory turn out to be a danger to him.

Instead Mick Rory turned out to be the best protection Barry had against bullies and other unsavoury...more unsavoury people, although Joe never found enough evidence that Tony Woodwards' sudden aversion to picking on Barry was linked to his sudden aversion to Rory and firecrackers.

The second person Barry met was through Mick. He would have been, at most 10 years older than the younger boy, and even though his first friend was older still, it was clear that Leonard was the one in charge of their strange little friendship. He was also another person Joe admitted to feeling conflicted about. It was hard for him to admit but Joe knew that he, and the rest of the Central City police force had legitimately failed Leonard Snart and his sister, and unlike some members of the precinct, he would be the first to agree that the main reason they'd ignored the younger man and his sister's requests for help, was pride. Finding out one of their own was capable of such cruelty and they'd never believed it, had struck hard at the soul of the precinct, and, in the end, had been realized too late to prevent the damage inflicted on the corrupt officers children.

Again Joe ended up letting the friendship continue with a plea to Barry that he contact him should Snart turn out to be dangerous. And the hope that Barry might be a grounding force for both the older men when it came to their occasional, impossible to prove, yet at the same time obvious, petty larceny sprees. When Barry and Iris had asked what he'd meant, Joe found himself trying to explain the difference between knowledge and evidence to the two far too curious children.

The third person Barry met was a girl a few years younger than Leonard, yet even with her enthusiastic personality, it was obvious after the initial reaction Leonard had that he and Lisa were related, although clearly that relationship was rocky.

It was obvious that the two siblings cared a great deal for each other and even Rory to a certain extent, although He and Leonard seemed to enjoy having spats over the smallest things. It was also very clear that, even with Joe's words of warning, Barry had rather firmly integrated himself amongst his friends, even though he showed no signs of wanting to join in any of their less legal activities, something Joe was grateful for. Mick was as protective as the man seemed capable of being, Lisa had practically claimed Barry as her new favourite person, and even Leonard seemed uncharacteristically fond of the young boy.

It was only when he was alone with Barry and away from any potential observations by his fellow police officers, that Joe admitted he felt that Barry, Rory and the Snart siblings would be able to help each other heal from their various traumas, and look after each other in a way the police force had failed to do.

He also hoped it decreased the local crime rate, this, however, he didn't mention to Barry, preferring to keep that little dream to himself.


	5. Crossing Borders

It was the first time someone so obviously high class had turned up at the foster home. The woman had two children with her, a boy that looked about 5 years older than Barry, and a girl about 5 years younger. There was something a bit different about the girl, but Barry couldn't quite put his finger on it. Dismissing the thought, he took his time to look at the man who had just gotten out of the rather expensive looking car, he was obviously older than his wife, but not by a huge margin, and a vague aura of general guilt seemed to surround him.

The woman, on the other hand, seemed to be very in charge of herself, and her relationships, gently, but firmly corralling her daughter as she tried to bolt over to where the foster children sat, probably wanting to play, while at the same time discussing something with her other child, Barry couldn't tell if it was about grades, advice, or something else. Not that it mattered really, Barry watched as they entered the front office, before turning back to what he was doing. He knew he was considered far too weird for such an obviously influential family to contemplate taking him in.

For nearly an hour, Barry saw no sign of anyone from the family, but the other children of the home, where showing obvious signs of interest, a few of them looking at the now completely cooled-down car with awe and exchanging ideas about who they were, tossing theories about like basketballs, from the mundane, such as them being a simple business family, to the extravagant, inferring that they were royalty of some sort. Barry just thought it was the result of watching far too many movies on their part, as the only theory that made some sense was the out of town one, this was mainly because the car had Starling City number plates.

As he was thinking this, the door leading from the front office into the playground opened. The younger of the two children bolted out and seamlessly integrated herself into an ongoing ball game, meanwhile, her older brother sat down on the grass a few feet from where Barry was, seemingly more interested in keeping an eye on the smaller girl than playing any games. It was clear that the big brother would not be interested in talking to the quite boy sitting near him, so Barry left him alone.

Without warning, the comfortable silence was interrupted when the girl bounced her way over to Barry with the ball in her hands. It was obvious she wanted him to play with her and the others, but before she could ask, one of the more crude boys spoke up.

"Don't ask the crazy boy."

The girl's' face was contemplative as she turned to ask what he meant, as was the older boy's, Barry didn't talk as the rude boy told them all about his belief in his father's innocence and about a superfast man in yellow killing his mother. knowing that no one would listen to him anyway. Instead of laughing at him like other children did, she reacted more like Iris had, although not exactly the same way, she believed his father might be innocent, but she couldn't believe the idea of a superfast man. Unfortunately this incited a bad response from the impolite boy, who appeared to have developed a slight crush on her, although he was obviously trying to hide it.

Within minutes, the two were scrapping with the other kids divided between egging them on and breaking them apart, her brother was in the latter category. It wasn't until she suddenly bared her teeth that he broke in physically though, manually pulling her away from the fight as she went to bite her opponent. However it was the sound of an adult voice yelling at them that stopped the fight completely. Once again the visiting woman's ability to control the people around her was made clear as ever child in the yard found themselves standing still to wait for her next words.

"Thea, what have I said about biting?"

Barry watched as the girl seemed to pull herself back up.

"Not to do it unless you have no other choice."

Barry's eyes widened slightly at this, usually parents told their kids not to bite at all. But when he thought about their obvious wealth it seemed logical, his talks with Joe sometimes included solved kidnapping cases, and they seemed like a family that were at risk of being targeted.

However he couldn't just let the girl take the fall alone, taking a deep breath, he moved to speak with the woman who's stern tone reminded him slightly of his own mother when he'd done something wrong.

"She was defending me Ma'am."

The woman looked at him kindly, although she still seemed slightly cold.

"And who might you be?"

"Oh, sorry Ma'am, my name is Barry Allen."

The woman's smile seemed to grow.

"It's nice to meet you Barry, My name is Moira Queen." She pointed to where the newly named Thea was now standing. "This is my daughter, whose name you just heard me call out, my husband Robert is still in the office, and Oliver is the boy standing behind you."

Barry stared at her for a few seconds, not sure why she was telling him about their adoption process as he was pretty sure it wasn't for him.

"We were wondering if you'd like to join our family, We live in Starling City, but Robert thinks we can make sure you are able to stay in contact with Detective West and his daughter."

The girl grabbed him from behind in a bear hug.

"Please big brother Barry."

Moira looked at him as well, and Oliver seemed to be desperately trying not to laugh as Thea squeezed him far too tightly.

As Barry considered the pros and cons of his sudden invitation, the woman's husband walked out of the office with the home's administrator, Maggie.

"Ah, I see the rest of your family has already met Barry."

Robert grinned at him and held out his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you Barry... I'm assuming you'd like to contact your friend and her father before you decide whether you'd like to be part of the Queen family?"

Barry nodded, he did want to talk with Joe and Iris, but he had the feeling he'd end up accepting the adoption, if only because aside from Iris, Thea had been the only person to stand up for him in a while, and Oliver seemed pretty cool as well, even though he hadn't said much.

He was pretty sure the two adults had to be okay as well, considering their children.

It would be a pretty nice family, even without the obvious wealth.


	6. A Family Vibe

Barry sat on the bench next to the foster homes only tree. These days all he really felt was a numb sense of acceptance as yet another child was adopted out, he'd gotten used to being overlooked as the emotionally damaged child of a killer and his victim, a poor boy clinging to the delusional dream of his father's innocence, tiptoed around as if they thought he'd be the next one to turn into a murderous monster in his broken little family. He couldn't say the staff were cruel, indeed most of them treated him nicely, but aside from Joe, Iris and one little family, most of them were distantly kind to him, preferring to keep him at arm's length. In return, he treated them with the same distant affection.

Blinking, he lifted his head as the home's Matron called him in, looking at the small silver watch Joe had bought him for his previous birthday, he realized that he'd spent most of the morning immersed in his chemistry book, and he now only had about an hour and a half to pack his little overnight bag for the sleepover he was due to attend. He'd regularly visited, and with permission, had often stayed for lunch or dinner before going back to the foster home, but this was the first time he'd been given permission to sleep at someones house, other than Joe and Iris's that is.

The bag he'd pulled out had been the first present he'd opened that had been from someone other than Iris and Joe, it was handmade, and perfect for overnight visits, and he'd often used it when sleeping over at the West house. This time he looked amongst the few belongings not in Joe's care or packed away in storage for when he got older, first he packed the essentials, a pair of pajamas Iris had given him for christmas, a hairbrush, a fluffy towel Iris had told him matched his eyes and the simple toothbrush the Matron had recently replaced, it was still a little stiff against his teeth, but he knew it would soften in a few more days. His temporary funk lifted as he found the small wrapped present he'd gotten during a shopping trip with Joe. This was the reason he'd been allowed to this sleepover, it was a birthday, nothing big or extravagant as, like Barry, this boy had more bullies than friends at school, and he and his family tried their best to get along, but often they just had differing opinions on certain things and couldn't financially support the dreams of both of their children, even though they tried, it was something Barry sympathized with, as about a year after he'd first been taken to the home, Joe had admitted to him that if he'd been able to afford it he'd have taken Barry in as fast as legally possible.

Luckily, this simple information had made Joe, Iris and Barry more relatable, and had improved the family's high opinion of Joe even more, easing the relationship between Barry and them, as well as lessening the strain between them and the family black sheep, the boy whose birthday he was about to attend. Smiling, he threw in a few more toys and some of the candy he and his friend had recently discovered a liking for, before looking at the small wallet, he thought for a bit, but decided to leave it with the house Matron for safety instead of leaving it in his room or taking it with him, he'd already bought the present, and his friend didn't really like being bought too much as it made him feel, uncomfortable.

Looking at his watch once again, he noticed that, even though it had seemed like a small amount of time, deciding on what to take and then packing everything had taken nearly an hour to do. Deciding to make use of another present his friend had given him, he opened a comic book he hadn't finished, deciding to read it until Joe came around pick him up and take him to the sleepover. He was on the last page when he heard Joe's car pull up in the driveway, quickly finishing it, he put it back on the shelf. Comic book away, he turned to grab his bag, when his eye caught another comic book. With a start, he realized he'd forgotten the most important thing, as well as gifts, he and his friend often borrowed/swapped comic books with each other, alongside the three he'd forgotten he needed to return, were two he had been meaning to take over to swap for a couple he'd talked about borrowing before. Frantically grabbing them, he called a distracted. "Come in." To the knock on his door as he tried to slide the comics into the side of the bag without damaging them, this was followed by the sound of Joe's voice, chuckling as he watched the young boy. "Forget something again?" Barry didn't bother to respond, knowing that what Joe said was very true, instead he focused on gently sliding the comics a last half inch, before looking at the older man. "Ready."

He was rewarded with a quick pat on the head, before they made their way down the stairs and out to the car. Barry blinked, For some reason, Joe's car, while not crowded, seemed fuller than he expected. Foregoing the front seat, he squeezed into the back, sharing an enthusiastic greeting with Iris, who he wasn't expecting to see that around, he noticed that a lot of the reason the car was less empty, was the fact that Iris also had all her overnight stuff packed and in the car, confused he looked at her and asked. "Are you going to a sleepover as well?"

The sound of Joe's throat clearing interrupted her before she could answer. Barry looked up at Joe's face, reflected in the rearview mirror, seemed sheepish and slightly exasperated.

"Uh, actually, she's going to the same one you are."

Barry looked at the bag of Iris's stuff, finally noticing the carefully wrapped present on top. Joe sighed this time.

"She was very insistent, I ended up talking with the Ramon family and securing her an invite, you don't mind do you?"

Barry thought for a bit, but he knew Iris almost as well as Joe did, once she got an idea, it was almost impossible to talk her out of it, and even if Joe somehow managed to, both he and Barry would have suffered through whatever creative retribution she'd decided to inflict on them. Not to mention, he had no problem with the thought of his best friend joining their little party, and she got on well with both the boys.

"No Joe, I don't think there's a problem with that."

A quick look over at Iris's toothy grin had him realizing his quick agreement had probably saved him from an argument that he probably would have given in to by the time they got to the house anyway. Speaking of the house, Barry quickly pressed his face to the window, it was a small terrace home and Joe was parking out the front as the small driveway already had the only car that would fit parked in it, the one owned by the people who lived their.

Grabbing his bag, he pushed Iris's towards her before jumping out of the car just as his friend opened the door of the house. The wonderful smell of his friends' favourite food cooking reached his nose as he crossed the pavement, already pulling the present he'd gotten to give him from his bag.

"Happy Birthday Cisco."

Cisco took the gift, grinning from ear to ear as they waited for Iris, closely followed by Joe to reach the small porch Barry had just stepped onto, the present she'd chosen for Cisco held out in front if her as well.

Just as she handed it over, Mrs Ramon appeared just inside the door, a small ladle in one hand while the other rummaged around in her pockets, finally pulling out a paper napkin, she wiped her hand as best she could, before seemingly realizing that she hadn't put her cooking implement down. Turning back to the short hallway, she hollered. "Dante!"

The Head of Cisco's younger brother popped out of the last door in the hallway, looking expectantly at his mother. Not phased by his lack of verbal response, her voice was quieter as she spoke again. "Come say hello to Officer West and the others, than if you could take the ladle back to the kitchen while Cisco and his friend catch up."

Dante grunted, but didn't complain, which was a first, but, Barry thought it was probably due to the fact that it was Cisco's birthday. It also, most likely meant that tomorrow, the day after Cisco's birthday, Dante would be back to his usual self. walking up the hallway, Dante said a quick hello to Joe, before saying the same to Barry and Iris, Iris got a small smile as well, not much of one, but still more than what he'd given Barry. Finished, he reached out as Mrs Ramon handed the ladle over to him before heading out to the kitchen as she finally wiped both her hands before reaching out to shake Joe's, before unexpectedly hauling both Barry and Iris into a quick hug.

"It's nice to see you again Officer West, Barry, Iris."

Joe smiled at her. "Please, just Joe is fine."

She returned the smile. "Very well, will you be staying for lunch Joe?"

Disappointedly, he shook his head, he'd had the privilege of eating her cooking during a few of Barry's daytime visits and he'd enjoyed them.

"Not today I'm afraid, I have the mid-afternoon to late-night shift today and I have to get to work soon."

"That's a shame." she said before turning to where Cisco was playing with the tape wrapped around the two presents Barry and Iris had given him. "After lunch dear." she held out her hand, and after a few seconds, Cisco handed the two gifts over to be placed in the small pile of other presents waiting for him.

Pulling his hand away again, he said a quick. "Yes mum." before leading Barry and Iris to the room across from where Dante's head had poked out off earlier. alongside Cisco's bed, a couple of air mattresses had also been laid out with bedsheets and blankets, should they need them. With an air of finality, Iris walked over to the one near the window, and proceeded to place her bag on it to mark it as hers. Barry shrugged before placing his own bag on the mattress she'd left for him. Taking in the grin on Cisco's face, he snorted. "No point arguing the point with her."

The other boy chuckled, he'd known Iris ever since Barry had introduced them to each other.

"That's true."

Barry smiled, nodding his head as he remembered all the times he and Cisco had made the mistake of trying to argue with one Iris West. His musing was cut short by the sound of Joe calling him and Iris to the front door for a quick goodbye before going to work. Both of them headed out, with Cisco not far behind as Iris ran to her father for a quick hug. Barry didn't flinch as he was also pulled into his second hug of the day. Finally Joe let them both go and headed out to his car, getting in, he waved as Barry and Iris watched him start it up and drive to work. Waiting until he'd disappeared around the corner, Barry realized that even though neither Joe nor Mrs Ramon had been able to officially adopt him, they, along with Iris, Cisco, and yes, even Dante, where as close to family as he could get.

His mind wandered to the present he'd gotten for Cisco, he was confidant the other boy would like it, After all, you could make so many things with a create your own electronics kit, and as much as he loved Iris, Cisco was the only one who really understood just how exciting that could be.

He couldn't wait to see what his almost brother came up with.


End file.
